What's the point of subscription-based template clubs for open source CMSs?

October 30, 2007 1:44 PM

What's the point of subscription-based template clubs for open source CMSs?

While setting up a joomla cms, I noticed that everytime I google something on the system, I invariably find links to some kind of subscription base 'club' for front-end templates. What's the point of these? Are there advantages to have cms installers sign on to a club rather than have them buy a one-time license outright?

posted by phyrewerx to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Well I think the obvious answer is that somebody thinks they can make more money that way.

Whether they're right, I'm not sure. It seems like a theme isn't something you'd want to change very often (at least, I don't regard your site's theme as something you want to change like a shirt; as a user that would be obnoxious). But I'm not really hip to the Web 2.0 stuff; maybe that's what the kids think is cool?

Frankly both of those sites strike me as shady, and I wouldn't give my money to either without a lot of consideration. Certainly not as a subscription.

It bears pointing out that a lot of adult sites have moved to subscription models recently (no comment on why I know this), and an increasing number of other services are offering 'auto-bill' options, either as a discount/incentive, or mandatory part of signing up. So apparently quite a few people think that you can get customers to pay a lot more money this way, buy "subscribing" them and then making them explicitly choose to unsubscribe later.

Just think: if you offered something online for $5 a pop, and the average customer only bought one, you'd get $5 a head. But if you sold "memberships" for $5/mo., and the average customer took until after the second billing cycle to cancel, you'd make $10 a head. That's double your revenue, and it might be many times the profit.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:10 PM on October 30, 2007

Eh. There are people who make a living pumping out Joomla or WP or whatever sites for clients. Having a vast repository of templates you can use instantly to do 3 mock-ups for clients is handy. Also, if you have a low price entry package and tell a client they can pick from any of X000 templates you'll customise for them, it becomes cost efficient really quickly.

I have bought (and ripped apart and rolled out) templates in the past. Were I doing it regularly (I'm not doing much web building these days) I would certainly see an advantage in this. €30 for three months? Cheaper than chips.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:02 AM on October 31, 2007